Re: Intergenerational Transmission -- Not

["Edward Adrian Lentz" <ealent@xxxxxxxx>]

Sharon,

>From a developmental psychopathology perspective I found it helpful to model
hypothethical pathways from the vulnerability of coming from a home in which
a parent had been abused to adaptive (non-abusive with one's own children)
or maladaptive (abusive with one's own children) outcomes.  Building a
causal model of indirect (risk factors/protective factors) and direct
(risk/protective mechanisms) influences on development would demonstrate
that it just isn't logical to assume that a history of abuse (or parents'
abuse history) will **make** one abusive in turn.  Impress upon your
students that people and families don't live in isolation -- human and
social ecology have alot to say about the multitude of intrapersonal,
interpersonal, and person-environment interactions that determine a
particular outcome, aside from the biopsychological & genetic factors that
**may** be at work.  You may also want to touch base on the issues of retro-
vs. prospective research: it just ain't the same thing to ask a group of
abusers if they were abused vs. watching whether abused children will go on
to abuse their own children.  Unfortunately, its a fact of political life
that the bigger the numbers associated with intergenerational transmission
(as with recidivism) the more resources get thrown at a problem.  The
likelihood of someone with deep pockets gladly funding expensive research
meant to prove that the numbers just aren't as big as advocates would like
to have the public believe.

Logic & transactional models -- it worked for me.

Good luck!  Regards,
___________________________________________________

Edward Adrian Lentz, MLS, MPA
Analyst, Child, Youth & Family Policy
(Prospective) Doctoral Student, Child & Youth Care
University of Victoria (BC)

Home contact:
#8 - 50 Montreal St.                1 (250) 381-5563
Victoria, British Columbia      1 (250) 381-5564 (fax)
Canada  V8V 1Y5                    ealent@home.com

-----Original Message-----
From: Sharon Carnahan <Carnahan@Rollins.Edu>
To: Child Maltreatment Researchers
<CHILD-MALTREATMENT-RESEARCH-L@cornell.edu>
Date: Monday, April 05, 1999 11:07 AM
Subject: Intergenerational Transmission -- Not


>I am lecturing this week in Developmental Psychology class about child
>abuse.  I am having trouble getting the concept of intergenerational
>trasmission across to my class.  They can't seem to get the idea that
>while many adults who abuse children were themselves abused, many abused
>children grow up to be successful parents without abusing their
>children.
>
>Can anyone recommend an effective tool, set of questions, classroom or
>workshop exercise, or concise set of numbers, to help my students get
>this?
>
>(Not sure all that many of us professionals get it either, come to think
>of it!)
>
>Thanks
>
>Sharon Carnahan, Ph.D.
>Rollins College
>
>